Silo-door.



G. E. DAVIDSON.

SILO DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, 1914.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Atto rn eys 'KiJ/ ZwZfiw/ZZXWZ lnventm,

THE NORRIS PETERS CO.. PHOTILLITHDH WASHINGTON. D. c.

C. E. DAVIDSON.

SILO DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, 1914v 1,1 17,799. Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

8 MEETS-SHEET 2.

ventor,

Attorneys,

C. E. DAVIDSON.

SILO DOOR.

4 J a w m z 4 7A fi z m m a J n W A g2 W nventor,

Witnesses Attorneys.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO-. PHOTO-LITHUH WASHINGTON, D. C

CHARLES E. DAVIDSON, OF GREENVILLE, ILLINOIS.

SILO-DGOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

Application filed April 8, 1914. Serial No. 830,504.

To all 207mm it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. DAVIDSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greenville, in the county of Bond and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Silo-Door, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to silo doors.

Silo doors as heretofore constructed have been objectionable for the reason that it has been necessary to cause them to fit tightly in the openings provided therefor and, consequently, when they have been sub jected to the excessive pressure exerted by the ensilage in the silo and have been caused to swell by the moisture absorbed, it has been a diilicult matter to open the doors because they become too tightly wedged within the openings.

. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a door which can be fitted loosely within the opening and has combined with it an interior abutment or supplemental closure designed to receive the pressure exerted by the ensilage and to form air spaces at the back of the door through which air is free to circulate with the result that swelling of the parts as a result of the absorption of moisture from the ensilage is materially reduced.

A further object is to provide a door having means combined therewith for holding the abutment or supplemental closure spaced from the doors and the intervening structure, the said spacing means also serving to reinforce the abutment or supplemental closure at the center thereof, thus to prevent the abutment or supplemental closure from springing outwardly and pressing against the door with excessive force.

A further object is to provide a door constituting a part of a complete unit, the said unit being so constructed that a plurality of like units can be superimposed and will form tight joints at their meeting ends without necessitating the use of special fastening means.

Another obiect is to provide an abutment or supplemental closure the parts of which serve to prevent admission-of air from the spaces back of the doors to the ensilage and which can also be readily removed from and placed in position.

,"With the-foregoing and'other ob ects in VIleW which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and 1n the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood thatchanges in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within the scope of what is claimed,

without departing from the spirit of the in-' vention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings :Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a silo and showing portions of two units, such as constitute the present invention, assembled. Fig. 2 is an 1n ner elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1, only a portion of the abutment or supplemental closure being shown. Fig.3 1s a section on line AB Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a section on line C-D Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a section on line E-F Fig. 1.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates the side staves of a unit such as includes the present invention, these staves being of any suitable lengths. In practice it is designed to make each unit either four, six or eight feet in length, although it is to be understood that the same can be made of any other length desired. The staves 1, as before pointedout, extend throughout the length of the unit and these staves can be of any suitable width, it being designed, when the unit is set up, to have the staves 1 engaged by the adjacent long staves of the silo wall. Connecting the ends of the staves are cross sills 2 and 3 respectively made of timbers of any desired proportions, the upper sills 2 extending upwardly above the upper ends of the staves 1 while the lower ends of the staves project downwardly below the lower sill 3, as shown particularly in Fig. 4. The back of each sill 2 and 3 is bowed inwardly so as to conform with the curvature of the silo and secured to the back face of the sill 2 are short stave sections 4, the upper ends of which are flush with the upper ends of the staves 1, while their lower ends form the upper wall of a door opening 5 formed between the stares 1. Short stave sections 6 are secured to the back face of the lower sill 3 and have their lower ends flush with the lower ends of the states 1, while their upper ends form the lower wall of a door opening 5 between the staves 1. \Vhere only a single door opening is formed in a unit, the two sets of short staves 1 and 6 will be located at theupper and lower ends respectively of the single opening. If, however, two door openings are to be provided in a unit, an additional intermediate sill 7 will be interposed between the sills2'and 3 and secured atits ends to the staves 1, this intermediate sill 7 having short staves 8 secured to itand extending upwardly and downwardly therefrom so as to form the lower wall of the upper door opening and the upper wall of the lower door opening. Obviously by the use of additional intermediate sills, more door openings canbe formed within a unit, the number of door openings being dependent ordinarily upon the height of the unit. The sills 2, 3 and 7 have recesses adjacent their ends, as shown. at 9, these recesses being adapted to receive hand rails 10 which are parallel with the staves 1 and extend longitudinally of the unit. The ends of the hand rails" are preferably in the same horizontal plane with the ends of the staves 1 so that the handrails will not extend up to the upper ends ofthe' recesses 9' in the upper sill 2 but, instead, a sufficient space will'be left in each of. said upper recesses for the reception of the-lower ends ofthe hand rails of the unit neX-t above. Obviously when units are erected one upon the other, the lower ends of the staves' 1 and 6 of the upper unit will rest upon the upper ends of v the staves 1 and a of the lower unit and back of the sill 2 of the lower unit, while the lower ends of the hand rails of the upper unit will extend into the recesses 9 in the sill 2 of the lower unit. By reason of this lapped connection between the units, it will be unnecessary to use any particular fastening means for holding the units together and, furthermore, a tight joint will be provided. As before pointed out, the staves' 1 of the units will be engaged by the adjoininglong staves of the silo wall and, when hoops are extended around the silo and across the units close under the sills i, all of the parts of the silo will be securely bound together to resist internal pressure. Each door opening 5 is adapted to be closed by a door 11 hingedly connected to one side of the opening and carrying a suit able latch 12 for engaging the opposite wall of the opening whereby the door will be secured in closed position; The door is adapted to swing inwardly to open position and to lap the walls of the door opening, this lap being effected either by beveling the walls of the opening and the edges of the door 'or stepping said walls and edges, or both, as desired. Elongated block 13 may be secured upon the outer side of the door and not only serve to reinforce the door, but also constitute stepsof a ladder.

The door 1s p'reiferably curved from side to side so as" to conform with the curvature of the unit and secured to the center of the door and extending longitudinally thereof is a combined spacing and stop strip 14 which projects upwardly and downwardly beyond the ends of the door and to points midway between adjoining doors.-- -Thus when all the doors of the silo are closed, the strips 14 on the various doors will aline and come close together. The projecting end portions of the strips 14 areadapted to engage the back faces of the short staves above and below the door opening, thus to limit" the movement of the door to closed position and prevent the edges of the door from bind-' ing too tightly upon the walls of the door opening. I I

Secured to the back of one of the staves 1 and extending throughout the length of said stave isa cleat 15 formed with a rabbet; 16. Secured to the back of the other stave 1 isanother cleat 17 having a rabbet 18 but this cleat does not extend throughout the ht ngth of the stave 1 but, instead, stops short ofv the upper end of the stave and i has its upper end sligl'itlybeveled, as at 19. This beveled upper end prevents ensilagef from hanging on the cleat. The rabbets 16 and 18 are designed to receive the ends of boards 20 which fit loosely therein and en- 9'5 gage the inner surface of the spacing strip 14, these board being formed with lapping so that, when they rest one upon theother, they constitute a continuous practi- V cally air-tight abutment, for the ensilage and whichwbridges the space between the cleats so that continuous air spaces 21 are formed hetween the door and the abutment or supplemental closure,'as shown particularly in Fig. The boards 20 are so pro- 10 portioned that; they can be inserted successively between the ends of the cleats17, one end of each board being first placed in the rabbet 16", after which the other end, of theboard is inserted into the space between the superposed cleats 17 and then lowered intothe rahbet 18 It will be understood that alfter one of the doors has been closed, with the strips 1% bearing outwardly against the short stavesbetween the door openings, the boards 2Qv forming" the abutment or supplemental closure, are inserted one after another from the dooropening abovethe closed door into engagement with the cheats 15" and 17, this operation being repeatedwith each of the doors until boards have beenpla'ced back ofvall of the doors but the top one. When the silo is filled, the ensilage will'press out wardly against the said boards 20 and the doors will, as a consequence, be relievedof the excessi'vcpressure to which they have heretofore been subjected; Furthermore, by

V having-the air-spaces between theboards 20 and the doors, moisturegiven ea-by the 1' ensilage is kept away from the doors and said doors wi l not swell as a result of the absorption of said moisture. Consequently, when it is desired to remove ensilage, the uppermost boards 20 can be lifted out of place one at a time until the back of the adjacent door has been exposed whereupon said door can be swung inwardly so as to give access to the ensilage.

The reinforcing and stop strips 14 not only serve to limit the outward movement of the doors to closed position but also con stitute eflicient guides for the boards 20 while they are being moved into and out of position. Furthermore, they prevent the boards from buckling outwardly under the excessive pressure to which they are subjected.

It has been found that by providing units such as herein described and Which utilize interior abui'ments or supplemental closures, sticking of the doors when shut is positively prevented and said doors can be readily opened whenever desired, in the manner hereinbefore described.

In order to insure circulation of air between the spaces 21, openings 22 can be provided in the units wherever desired.

Inasmuch as ensilage will settle from four to six feet during the first twenty-four hours in a silo of from twenty-four to thirty feet in height, it will be obvious that should any ensilage be piled within the silo back of the uppermost door, it would soon settle so as not to contact with said door. Consequentlv there is no need of having boards 20 back of the uppermost door.

What is claimed is 1. In a silo, the combination with a structure havin a door opening, of a door for closing the opening, said door being movable outwardly to closed position, means carried by the door and movable against the back face of the structure for limiting the movement of the door to closed position, and superposed members removablv mounted at their ends upon the structure and bridging the door opening to form an abutment or supplemental closure, said members bearing outwardly at their centers against the stop means upon the door.

2. In a silo, a door unit including side staves having a door opening therebetween, means for connecting the staves, a door for closing the opening, said door being movable outwardly against the walls of the opening to closed position, means carried by the door and movable against the back face of the unit for limiting the movement of the door to closed position, and superposed members mounted at their ends uponthe stares and bridging the space between the staves to form an abutment or supplemental closure, said members bearing outwardly at their centers against the stop means upon the door.

3. In a silo, a door unit including side staves, there being a door opening between the staves, a door adapted to close the opening, a stop strip extending longitudinally of and beyond the door and movable against adjacent portions of the unit to hold the door against binding within the opening, holding means upon the unit and adjacent opposite portions of the door opening, and a combined abutment and supplemental closure bridging the space between the holding means and including superposed engaging members having their ends detachably engaging the holding means and their intermediate portions bearing outwardly against the strip upon the door.

-i-. In a silo, a door unit having an opening, a door adapted to swing outwardly into the opening, a stop strip carried by the door and movable against adjacent portions of the unit to hold the door against binding within the opening, and a combined abutv ment and supplemental closure removably mounted upon and bridging the back of the unit.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. DAVIDSON.

Witnesses SELDJ'A lVILLsoN, I. E. SiMPsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

